The Squeal in the Surprise
by Col3725
Summary: Brennan comes home from a conference to discover that while she was gone, Booth bought Christine a pet. One-shot, set in season 9


**_This one-shot was inspired by a video my friend sent me. It's random, but total fluff, so I hope you like it. _**

* * *

With Brennan in Boston for a conference until Sunday, Booth and Christine were having a father-daughter weekend. Christine was beyond excited. She always loved her daddy-days as she called them, so the prospect of spending the whole weekend with only him was very appealing to the three year-old.

They were currently outside playing in the front yard. Booth chased after his little girl and scooped her up when he caught her.

Christine kicked and giggled, squirming in his arms. "Daddy," she squealed, "put me down!"

He did, but not before pressing a kiss to her cheek and tickling her a little.

She gasped in between bouts of laughter, wriggling away from his fingers.

When he finally set her down and she had some time to catch her breath, she put her hands on her hips and tilted her head, giving him a look so like her mother's glare that he couldn't help but smile. "What's wrong, Angel?"

She pouted. "I don't like tickles."

"I thought you liked the tickle monster?"

She shook her head. "No, I don't. Not one bit."

"Then you better run!" He held up his hands and wiggled his fingers, giving her a head start.

She bolted towards the house, screeching with laughter, looking back over her shoulder a couple times to gauge how close he was getting to her. "Daddy, no!" She panted, faking to the right then zipping off to the left.

Out of breath, he collapsed in the grass and motioned for Christine to join him.

"Nu-uh."

"I won't tickle you, I promise."

Nodding, she slowly made her way back to him. "No tickles."

He smiled and folded his arms behind his head. "No tickles," he assured her.

She lay down beside him and copied his position. "Lainey got a new puppy. His name is Snuggles."

He almost didn't want to ask the question that came to his mind the second she brought up her best friend's new dog, afraid it would put an idea into her head that wasn't there in the first place. He wanted a dog and hadn't given up hope that Brennan would give in eventually, but he definitely didn't need to get his daughter's hopes up; he and Brennan would never hear the end of it. He needed to know why his daughter felt the need to tell him this seemingly random piece of information, though, he went ahead and asked anyway. "Do you want a dog like Lainey?"

She shook her head. "No."

He exhaled.

"I want a piglet."

He blinked. "What?"

"I said I want a piglet."

Sitting up, he asked, "Where did that come from?"

"Ms. G bringed her piggy in for show-n-tell. His name is Blanket and he's really, really cute. He does this a lot," she squealed and snorted, "and he's pink and gots little spots all over him. I want him. I tried to stuff him in my backpack but Ms. G catched me."

"You tried to steal your teacher's pig?"

She shook her head. "He wanted to go with me, Daddy."

"And he told you so, huh?"

She nodded. "He said," she squealed three times in a row.

He just smiled.

"Ms. G says there's five more. I want one."

"I don't think Mom will be too happy if she came home and there was a pig in the house, Christine."

"Nu-uh. Mommy looooves pigs. She wanted one a long, long time ago. She said so."

_Damn it, Bones. Why did you have to go and tell her that? _"Honey, a pig is a huge commitment and they probably cost a lot of money."

"Isn't Mommy rich?" She sat up and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Christine—."

"Ms. G says we can go over to her house now."

"Did you tell your teacher we wanted one of her piglets?"

She looked down and shrugged, her shoulders going all the way to her ears.

"Honey, you shouldn't have said that. We're not getting a pig."

She pouted. "Why not?" She threw her arms down and looked at him with wide, pleading eyes, a look her mother had perfected since they became more than partners.

He had trouble saying no to _that_ look, whether Brennan was giving it to him or her mini-me was. He had difficult saying no to Christine normally, so it was nearly impossible when she was pouting and looking at him so desperately.

"Please?"

_Not the drawn out please. _It was his weakness and both Christine and Brennan knew that. "I'll tell you what. After lunch, we'll go give Ms. G. a visit and talk to her about what it takes to have a pet pig and check out the five she told you about."

She jumped up. "Yay!" She danced and wiggled around, beaming.

He sighed. "That doesn't mean we're getting one, Christine."

She wasn't listening anymore; she was just too excited.

He stood and nudged her towards the house. "I'll whip up some grilled cheeses for lunch. How's that?"

She nodded. "Okay, but we gotta eat really fast, Daddy."

"Not too fast or you'll choke."

She ran through the open front door, kicked off her shoes, and continued towards the kitchen.

He sighed again. He knew that no matter what happened that afternoon, they would be coming back with a piglet.

* * *

Booth walked through the door leading into the kitchen at around 2:30, Christine cradled in his arms, asleep. He carried her into the living room and laid her down carefully on the couch. He pried her little arms away from the small black and pink pig she was clutching and scooped him up. The pig squealed, not happy about being disturbed from his nap. He sighed and put the pig under his daughter's arm and covered them both with a blanket. He kissed the little girl on the forehead and walked back outside to get the rest of the supplies from the SUV.

He reentered the house, shutting the door quietly, and then went about setting everything up. He put the litter box in the laundry room along with the piglet's food and water bowls. He placed the royal blue harness and matching leash on the shelf above the appliances and put the bag of toys in the living room until they could go out and buy some sort of container for them. He dumped the bed near the fireplace and glanced at his little girl napping on the couch.

Christine had brought the pig closer to her body in the time he was off putting the stuff away, her head resting against the piglet's.

For his part, the pig was grunting softly in his sleep and seemed content right where he was, snuggled into his new playmate.

Booth shook his head. It would have been so much easier to say no and leave without the piglet if Christine hadn't been so damn smiley when she saw the litter. She had fallen in love with the littlest pig. He was almost all black with the exception of his legs, which were pink. He had come up to her squealing and plopped right down in her lap. Her happiness, along with her big brother's, was the most important thing to him, so there was no way he was going to compromise that by yanking that pig from her. She was a good kid; she deserved to be spoiled once in a while.

The front door opened unexpectedly and Brennan walked in. "I'm home."

He whipped around and blinked. "I thought you weren't coming home until tomorrow?"

"I got an earlier flight out." Brennan shed her coat and hung it on the hook. She headed into the living room and stood behind him. She hooked her arms around his waist and rested her head in the middle of his strong, muscular back. "You don't sound happy to see me."

He exhaled. "You know I'm always happy to see you, Bones; I'm just surprised. I missed you."

"I missed you too. It was very difficult being away from you and Christine. I had a hard time focusing." She let go of him and stepped to the side, glancing at the couch. When she walked in, she had seen Christine napping there. That was when she noticed the little black blob that was curled up beside her daughter. She hadn't caught it before or at least hadn't registered what it actually was when she quickly looked towards the couch earlier. "Booth?"

He swallowed and looked at her. He knew she saw it, but he played dumb. "Yeah, Bones?"

"Why is there a pig sleeping on the couch with our daughter?"

"Um, you see, Christine, she, her teacher brought a pig to class and um, well, she kinda fell in love with it. She tried to put him in her backpack and bring him home. Ms. G. told her that there were five more piglets in the litter and she, eh, begged me to let her have one." He sighed. "I'm sorry, Bones. I—I couldn't say no. She was so happy and she got so attached to him."

Her confusion turned to joy instantly "He's ours?"

He laughed. "Yeah. Bones, meet Squeals. He's a miniature pot-bellied pig and he's our new pet. I would have rather gotten a dog, but Christine wanted a pig instead. I wonder where she got that from." He winked.

She didn't want to wake up Christine, but she couldn't resist. She approached the couch and carefully extracted Squeals from underneath the blanket. She cradled him and laughed when he buried his head into the crook of her arm, pushing his wet snout against her skin. He snorted in contentment as she began to pat his head and scratch behind his ears. "Hello, Squeals."

"Mommy?" Christine muttered.

Brennan sank onto the edge of the couch. "Yes, Christine?"

"Daddy got me a piggy."

"I see that. He's very friendly and quite adorable."

Christine rubbed her eyes and rolled onto her side.

"Go back to sleep, Sweetheart."

Christine nodded and drifted off again.

Brennan rose to her feet, still cradling the newest member of their family. "I don't want to let you go," she told the piglet and then suddenly felt foolish for speaking to something that couldn't speak back.

Squeals grunted and tipped his head up.

Brennan ran her hand down the length of his back and then looked over at Booth.

"Surprise?"

She shook her head and turned her focus back to the animal. She could be mad at Booth for going out and buying their daughter a pig without her knowledge or permission all she wanted, but when it came down to it, she was just as much in love with the squealing and grunting mini pot-bellied pig as Christine was. She would still do some research and ask Booth if Ms. G. gave them any specific instructions on how to care for the piglet, of course, but there was no way she was giving him up now. While his name wasn't Jasper, she was still very much attached to him already.

_Like mother, like daughter_, Booth thought as he walked to stand beside his wife. He reached over and patted the pig's head. If he was honest with himself, he was a little attached to the little guy too.


End file.
